Automatic identification is the broad term applied to a host of technologies that are used to help machines identify objects. Automatic identification is often coupled with automatic data capture. Therefore, companies wanting to identify items are able to capture information about the items, to store information in a computer, and to selectively retrieve the information from the computer for a variety of useful purposes, all with minimal human labor.
One type of automatic identification technology is radio-frequency identification (RFID). RFID is a term used for technologies that use radio waves in the automatic identification of objects. There are several conventional methods of identifying objects using RFID, the most common of which is to store a serial number (and other information, if desired) that identifies a product on a microchip that is attached to an antenna. The chip and the antenna together along with the supporting substrate on which they are provided define an RFID inlay. The antenna enables a remote reader (e.g., an RFID reader) that has a transceiver to communicate with the chip, and enables the chip to transmit identification information back to the reader when actuated to do so (e.g., interrogated) by the reader. The RFID reader converts the radio waves returned from the RFID tag into a form that can then be utilized by a computer.